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Motu Redesign challenge #87 - Gygor!

Here we've finally come across possibly THE biggest underdog ( or would that be under-APE..?) of all of MotU.

GYGOR.

He is a giant golden Ape that would work as an alternate steed for He-man and/or the heroic warriors.

He was only revealed about 3 years or so ago, as an unproduced prototype-sketched toy, by Roger Sweet
one of the original managers of the MotU-line back in the day, in his biography: "Mastering the Universe".

This is all of the information available on Gygor:

Originally Posted by Roger Sweet

I changed the ape's body color from black to bright yellow and gave him a dark olive-green face and chest.His face in contorted with white teeth snarling in an open mouth of blood red.I gave him a black body harness.From his shoulders I hung a dark maroon cape."

"When I showed "Gygor" to marketing Mark Ellis said that is ********** great!!!"

"Ted Mayer in my design group created a striking full-color illustration of the beast, with He-Man mounted on his back. Gygor was decked out with a panoply of harnesses and weapons.

Sounds like it could have been pretty damn cool. A third classic animal, after Battle-Cat and Zoar.

The rules are as EVER:
All people who choose to participate will have two weeks to come up with a redesign for this
character. You can use any medium you wish. You can sketch, paint, make a 3-D model,
make a sprite, make a custom action figure, whatever you want. Its entirely up to you!

As well, you don't have to force yourself to make your design conform to the new OR OLD cartoon &
comic book's style. Be as drastic in your redesign as you see fit. Whatever makes you happy.
If you can't think of a new design, or just hate the idea of working on this character,
you do not have to feel obligated to participate in this particular challenge.
You will still be free to participate in any future challenges you wish.

I'm not so sure about mine anymore. I got the idea straight away and did a couple of drawings... but the concept makes less sense now. I might post the concepts to see if you guys think it's worth persuing.

Heres the concept so far. Because of the similarities with the name stridor (hey they both end in 'or' don't they?) I've taken Gygor as being a technological construct. He retains basic AI so he can act autonomously, but his AI is overuled when a master takes the reigns. I couldn't quite see He-man riding this beast into battle on piggy back so I've made it more of an enclosed mech-suit style device.
So what do you think? worth finishing up or should I try again?

Glad to have you aboard Jaf, you always add something great to these challenges. And that's awesome that you've done 3 in a row!! You'll be a regular in no-time.

Btw... I think this would be your first creature-design wouldn't it?

LOL!! Pred just teasing you buddy, ya know that!!
Thanks for the kudos!! LOL!!
I have been tossing ideas around for this guy since he was announced, so I'm hoping to bring out my best. Yes, this would be the 1st time I've done a creature for the boards, but I'm a HUGE King-Kong fan & really look forward to making a heroic Ape for the Masters mythos. You keep having so many great challenges like the last couple & I just can't help myself but participate!! Great ideas inspire great art!!

You keep having so many great challenges like the last couple & I just can't help myself but participate!! XD Great ideas inspire great art!!

Thanks mate! ^^ I try my best to pick a good mix of concept-types, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it don't. I feel really lucky to have these last few challenges go so well, I must say.

Originally Posted by Patreek

I don't remember this guy at all... was he ever made?

No indeed he was not, mate. Check the first post again, and you'll notice he only ever made it to the sketch-stage.

It's time to unleash him upon the Evil Warriors!!

Originally Posted by super-munkyboy

Me too fella...LET BATTLE COMMENCE!!

OMG! This.. will be good. ^^

I think I myself see him as a lot bigger than was intended, somewhere just above Mighty Joe Young, so he can carry more than one guy. Like, his seat carries one or two in a basket-like thingie, that can swivel up from his back on top of his shoulders. And then on the sides of the basket there would be like fold-up seats, on both sides, so a total of 3-4 peeps can ride on his back. Then he could have an add-on with a chest-harness, where one more guy as well can sit.

But the front-addon is only to be used when he walks on his legs, when the heroic Warriors are laying siege to some fortress.

In fact, it would be cool if his entire harness is modular wouldn't it? One standard piece with the basket, then add-ons for the sides, and then an add-on for the front, as well as with add-on guns for the front and for the sides.

It was tough making the colors from Gygor's description work. Maybe they don't work? On the other hand, the description of Gygor's colors very much paralleled the garish colors of Battle Cat, so maybe if the colors don't work that means they are working? Anyways, I designed Gygor's helmet to mirror Battle Cat's as well. The guns are all modelled on Stridor's armaments. The chair mounted on Gygor's backpack should give you a sense of his scale.

A garishly colored giant gorilla decked out in a cape and high-tech energy weapons... hmmm... something's missing. Oh, I know--how about some supplemental nerdy background info, written by yours truly? Here you go:

* * *

PROFILE: Standing at well over 13 feet tall, the ancient being known as GYGOR is one of the most powerful entities on Eternia. His physical strength surpasses that of He-Man, his wisdom rivals that of the Sorceress, and his knowledge encompasses aeons of Eternia's rich history. His helm is made from the hide of a powerful prehistoric Eternian beast, and he is outfitted with a battle harness powered by an enchanted gem. The harness is armed with two heavy shoulder blasters, two hip mounted stun rays, and rotating light rapid fire blasters mounted on the back turret. Gygor rarely needs to rely on more than his brute strength and great wisdom, but he has also demonstrated powerful spellcasting abilities from time to time.

HISTORY: Gygor was already ancient in the days of King Grayskull, and in fact, records indicate that Gygor was a staunch ally and advisor to the legendary king. Allegedly, in modern day Eternia, Gygor has been sighted travelling towards Castle Grayskull. Has Gygor returned to aid the heroes of the land in the dark times that have descended upon Eternia? Only time will tell...

Leoghan: Well, he still looks a bit mean so I think you got the gist of it. The big club puts the final pin in the pincussion, so to speak.

Bootleg: Kickass! That's one real-deal MotU-ape there. You're the one that has given him the most intelligent persona I notice! And yeah, you're right about the colours, they mirror Battle Cat's. And that's why I'm so surprised no-one's coloured his armour in a blueish Purple yet?

Battle-Cat has red armour for maximum contrast to his green fur, so logically, shouldn't Gygor have purple armour for maximum contrast to his golden fur?

It was tough making the colors from Gygor's description work. Maybe they don't work? On the other hand, the description of Gygor's colors very much paralleled the garish colors of Battle Cat, so maybe if the colors don't work that means they are working? Anyways, I designed Gygor's helmet to mirror Battle Cat's as well. The guns are all modelled on Stridor's armaments. The chair mounted on Gygor's backpack should give you a sense of his scale.

A garishly colored giant gorilla decked out in a cape and high-tech energy weapons... hmmm... something's missing. Oh, I know--how about some supplemental nerdy background info, written by yours truly? Here you go:

* * *

PROFILE: Standing at well over 13 feet tall, the ancient being known as GYGOR is one of the most powerful entities on Eternia. His physical strength surpasses that of He-Man, his wisdom rivals that of the Sorceress, and his knowledge encompasses aeons of Eternia's rich history. His helm is made from the hide of a powerful prehistoric Eternian beast, and he is outfitted with a battle harness powered by an enchanted gem. The harness is armed with two heavy shoulder blasters, two hip mounted stun rays, and rotating light rapid fire blasters mounted on the back turret. Gygor rarely needs to rely on more than his brute strength and great wisdom, but he has also demonstrated powerful spellcasting abilities from time to time.

HISTORY: Gygor was already ancient in the days of King Grayskull, and in fact, records indicate that Gygor was a staunch ally and advisor to the legendary king. Allegedly, in modern day Eternia, Gygor has been sighted travelling towards Castle Grayskull. Has Gygor returned to aid the heroes of the land in the dark times that have descended upon Eternia? Only time will tell...

* * *

Woah! This is the most amazing banana-eating ape guy ever! Real good work Bootleg!

It was tough making the colors from Gygor's description work. Maybe they don't work? On the other hand, the description of Gygor's colors very much paralleled the garish colors of Battle Cat, so maybe if the colors don't work that means they are working? Anyways, I designed Gygor's helmet to mirror Battle Cat's as well. The guns are all modelled on Stridor's armaments. The chair mounted on Gygor's backpack should give you a sense of his scale.

A garishly colored giant gorilla decked out in a cape and high-tech energy weapons... hmmm... something's missing. Oh, I know--how about some supplemental nerdy background info, written by yours truly? Here you go:

* * *

PROFILE: Standing at well over 13 feet tall, the ancient being known as GYGOR is one of the most powerful entities on Eternia. His physical strength surpasses that of He-Man, his wisdom rivals that of the Sorceress, and his knowledge encompasses aeons of Eternia's rich history. His helm is made from the hide of a powerful prehistoric Eternian beast, and he is outfitted with a battle harness powered by an enchanted gem. The harness is armed with two heavy shoulder blasters, two hip mounted stun rays, and rotating light rapid fire blasters mounted on the back turret. Gygor rarely needs to rely on more than his brute strength and great wisdom, but he has also demonstrated powerful spellcasting abilities from time to time.

HISTORY: Gygor was already ancient in the days of King Grayskull, and in fact, records indicate that Gygor was a staunch ally and advisor to the legendary king. Allegedly, in modern day Eternia, Gygor has been sighted travelling towards Castle Grayskull. Has Gygor returned to aid the heroes of the land in the dark times that have descended upon Eternia? Only time will tell...

* * *

That's AWESOME. Just ... awesome. And I like that you made him ancient ... I was thinking along that route too before I scrapped mine (trust me, it was the right thing to do) - I was going to make him He-Ro's mount instead of He-Man's (and was going to leave him in Preternia rather than bring him up to modern Eternia).

2-Bad: Awesome hairdo!! I like that you've given him a unique hair and beard! did you know that hominids ( **** sapien etc) are the only apes that have beard? That's pretty cool, if he's actually related to Eternians or some such. That's what I personally would have done, that he's actually related to the line of humanoids that eventually became Eternians, including He-man and Randor! Would be pretty cool if he had the power, wouldn't it?

Pretty nifty idea to combine the look of Beastman and Battle Cat's armour for him, btw.

Jafari: You made it!! Glad to see you've got that beastly touch! ^^ Intriguing backstory indeed! And you seem to overall be one of those that went for more of a character than steed/vehicle angle for him. He's really a very flexible concept isn't he?? You can play him as all sorts of things, since he's an ape.

Kent: Not too late! The deadline was moved to today, so you made it.
And that's one BIG battle-harness! 0_0 Lucky he's a strong fella'. I really like the new golden paint-app btw. Looks better than the yellow.

Well lads, today is the deadline, so if there's still someone left, you've only got a few hours left before the doors close on the big, hefty, ape. I will most likely ask Monikasvo to do the poll, since I've currently got a deadline for a fanzine I'm a part of, so I don't think I'll have time to do the poll.